While many people need short-term treatment to resolve emotional distress, there is a significant group of citizens with mental-health needs who require ongoing treatment.

The lack of coverage by insurers for enrollees with chronic mental disorders is of great concern to licensed independent clinical social workers (LICSW). Insurers who second-guess the decisions of licensed mental-health professionals are interfering with the treatment process and harming the well-being of those in need of help. The time has come to make our mental-health parity law, ignored by Washington’s insurance commissioner for four years, enforceable.

Ann DeMaris Davids, LICSW
President, Washington State Society for Clinical Social Work

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